by Chrys Cymri
Penny White
and
The Nest of Nessies
Penny White # 6
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Cover Design: Cover Couture (www.bookcovercouture.com)
Photos © DepositPhotos/OSORIOartist
Photos © DepositPhotos/tolokonov
Photos © DepositPhotos/Wavebreakmedia
Photos © Shutterstock/LarsZ
Photos © DepositPhotos/mletschert
For Sarah, my niece
With apologies that there are no giraffes…
This is a work of fiction.
All names, characters, businesses,
places, events and incidents are either the
products of the author’s imagination
or used in a fictitious manner and any resemblance
to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events
is purely coincidental.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
About Chrys Cymri
Other books by Chrys Cymri
Connect with Chrys Cymri
First Chapter of The Dragon Throne
Chapter One
The merwoman had been removed from the orca’s enclosure by the time I arrived. Although the people hovering around the examination table blocked most of my view, the way the arm and tail hung over the edge told me that she was dead. Water slapped against the pool edge, only a few yards to my left. Bright lights shone down from the high ceiling above our heads, echoed by the late afternoon sun which slanted through the open side of the building. The chemical smell of chlorine made my nose twitch.
The veterinarian glanced back and saw me. She lifted a hand to brush purple-streaked hair back from her forehead. ‘Penny, good, you’re here. That was quick.’
‘There was a dragon in my back garden.’ I walked over to join Jennifer Lawson at the table. The two men, one in a full-body black swimsuit, the other wearing a white lab coat over a white shirt and trousers, moved to one side to give me room. ‘What can I do?’
‘We’re waiting for someone from the Lloegyr Liaison Team to join us,’ Jen said. ‘Peter, I assume?’
The mention of his name made me wince. ‘They’ll probably send someone else. It’s his day off.’
Jen smiled. ‘But Sunday is a working day for priests. I’m sorry to add to your work. However, I needed a priest, so that’s why I called you.’ She pointed at a tattoo which gleamed bright silver on the pale-skinned left shoulder. ‘Looks like she’s one of yours.’
My stomach lurched uneasily. The body was bloated, belly distended and face stretched so wide that the eye sockets had nearly disappeared behind the cheeks. I forced myself to bend closer. ‘Yes, it’s definitely a cross. I suppose merpeople have the same mix of religions as any other culture on Lloegyr. I’ll say some prayers, and I’ll send a rat to Bishop Aeron’s office when I’m back home. She might be able to tell me what else we should do for a merperson.’
‘Now see here.’ The man in the swimsuit jutted out his chin. ‘This is just some prank, isn’t it? Some nutty woman put on a silicone tail and got into the water with Mundo and drowned.’
‘We haven’t been introduced,’ I said mildly. ‘I’m Penny White, Vicar General of Incursions for the Diocese of Nenehampton. You two are?’
‘Paul Patterson,’ he replied. His wet hair was nearly as dark as his bodysuit, and I decided he must be in his early thirties. Muscled arms and legs spoke of many hours spent working out. ‘I’m the lead trainer here at the Midlands WaterWorld.’
‘Doctor Roger Stanford,’ said the second man. He held out his hand. His hair was almost as white as his lab coat, and so I was surprised by the strength of his grip. ‘And, Paul, I can assure you that this is no prank. That tail is real.’
‘Of course it’s real,’ Jan said, sounding irritated. ‘As I’ve told you already.’
‘But, but,’ Paul spluttered, ‘mermaids?’
‘They prefer to be called merwomen,’ I told him. ‘Would you want to be described by some presumption of virginity?’
Roger chuckled. Paul merely glowered. Jan drew me to one side and whispered, ‘I wish you’d brought Morey.’
‘Why? It’s obvious that Paul already has the Sight, probably from taking the merwoman out of the water.’
‘Not to give him the Sight.’ Jen sighed. ‘I’d like him to give Paul a good nip on the nose.’
‘He’s been that bad?’
‘Impossible. Won’t accept what’s lying in plain view under his eyes.’
‘I can sort that out.’ I marched over to the younger man. ‘Come with me. I want to show you something.’
Paul grumbled, but accepted my tug on his elbow. I led him away from the covered section. A small bridge arched over the narrow waterway which connected the examination pool to the much larger one used for the public orca shows. ‘Look over there. On the clear space just below the bleachers.’
Raven sat on the concrete, his sleek body gleaming green-black in the sun. His ears and horns were erect as he studied the orca circling inside the enclosure. Both were apex predators, I realised, dragon and killer whale. Perhaps it was just as well that a high plexi-glass barrier separated them.
‘Am I really seeing that?’ Paul stuttered. ‘It’s a--I mean, it’s a--’
‘Raven is a search dragon,’ I said. ‘He kindly gave me a lift over here.’
A low whistle made me glance over at Roger. ‘Are all dragons that, well, handsome?’
‘No,’ Jen answered from behind us. ‘Raven is one of the grander examples I’ve seen.’
‘And he doesn’t need to hear that. His ego is big enough as it is.’ I watched as the orca halted near the dragon. The black and white head lifted out of the water, dark eyes staring at Raven.
‘Dragons and mermaids.’ Paul gripped the railing. ‘Next you’ll tell me that unicorns and were-wolves are real.’
‘Very much so.’ His knuckles were white, and I took pity on him. ‘They all come from Lloegyr, sort of a parallel England. On the whole, we humans don’t see them, because our minds decide that they can’t possibly exist. You have to touch a being from Lloegyr to be given the Sight.’
‘It wears off after a week or so,’ Jen warned. ‘And don’t bother trying to take any photos with your phone. Even in photos, only people with the Sight can see someone from Lloegyr.’
I nearly reminded her that vampires, who looked mostly human unless they smiled, were the exception. But Paul was swallowing hard, and I decided he didn’t need that piece of information.
A pounding of footsteps made us turn around. The policeman was in jeans and an open-necked blue shirt, but I immediately recognised him. ‘That's Sergeant Ray Pike
. He’ll want to see the merwoman.’
We returned to the examination table. Only then did I find myself wondering why a human-sized platform had been placed near an orca pool. I pushed the question to one side as I joined Ray. His Familiar, a crow called Morfran, gripped the man’s left shoulder with dark claws.
‘Dead when I arrived,’ Roger confirmed as the policeman made notes on his iPhone. ‘Paul here pulled her out. Jen was on site, and I asked her to join me. She phoned Penny.’
Morfran leaned forward, cocking his black head. ‘Not often you see merpeople over here.’
Paul paled further. ‘It talks. The crow talks.’
‘Of course I can talk,’ Morfran retorted. ‘Can you fly?’
‘Easy, soldier,’ Ray said soothingly. ‘The lad didn’t mean anything by it. Paul, I need to know exactly how you found her.’
As the men moved to one side, I took a deep breath and forced myself to take another look at the merwoman. Death had washed the colour from her skin and turned her tail into a silvery green. The eyes were shut, and I wondered who had undertaken that courtesy. The dark hair was tangled around her long face and half-covered her bare torso.
‘Prayers?’ Jen reminded me.
‘Yes, indeed.’ I cleared my throat. ‘God our Father, creator of all beings, we ask you to take into your loving arms this your child, whose name you know and whose soul you love. Hold not her offences against her, but forgive her for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, who redeemed the whole of the cosmos to himself. We ask this in his precious name. Amen.’ I reached out and used my thumb to trace the sign of the cross on her cold forehead.
‘Amen,’ Jen echoed. ‘I’ve never seen one before. Have you?’
‘Raven’s taken me to visit them.’ I forced myself to look more closely. ‘I don’t think the orca attacked her. No signs of any tooth marks.’
‘Mundo is one of the more trustworthy orcas here.’ Her bitter tone made me lift my eyebrows. Jen sighed. ‘I don’t like seeing any cetacean in captivity.’
‘Neither do I,’ I said fervently. ‘That’s why I don’t come to places like this. I can’t stand them.’
‘Rarely a week goes by that an orca doesn’t make a grab at someone.’ Jen kept her voice low. ‘That’s why this table is here. So Roger can come and have a quick look. This is his retirement job, certifying that the trainers can go back into the water.’
‘But we can’t set them free, can we?’ I asked. ‘Not after all this time.’
Jen shook her head. ‘Mundo was brought here from Scotland a few months ago. He’d been injured, probably from a collision with a ship. Who knows where his pod is by now. All of the others were bred in captivity.’
Ray and Paul rejoined us. ‘I’ve put a call in to Russell Tops,’ the policeman said cheerfully. ‘He’ll come and get the body and put it on ice. He’d like to do an autopsy, but he’s not sure whether that would be okay with merpeople.’
‘I don’t know either,’ I admitted. ‘Maybe it’s best that the coroner only does a surface examination.’
Paul looked dazed. Roger put a comforting hand on his shoulder. ‘I’ll sign you off for the rest of the day. Are there any more shows this afternoon?’
‘We’ve cancelled the next one.’ Paul rubbed his forehead. ‘There’s a show tonight, but Cheryl can head that up.’
I wandered back to the bridge. My job here was done. In a moment, I’d join Raven, and ask him if he could track down the merwoman’s family. He always boasted that a search dragon could find anything, but I’d learned that there were limits to his abilities. I doubted that he’d be able to find the next of kin for someone he had never met while they were still alive.
The orca swam towards the passageway. As he came near, I saw a familiar blur, and my head pounded. I only had this sort of reaction around weres. My mouth dried. No, it couldn’t be. Surely Mundo was what everyone believed him to be, an orca taken from the oceans of Earth?
I turned and hurried towards the exhibition pool. Paul shouted something, but I ignored him. A large stage extended over the clear water. The blue concrete was wet and slippery under my boots. I forced myself to slow to a walk.
Mundo had followed me, his huge body now only ten feet away from mine. I halted and took a deep breath. ‘Ydych chi o Alba?’
The orca all but froze in the water. Then he threw himself onto the concrete. I jumped back as Mundo slid to a stop. The large jaws opened, exposing small teeth and a pink tongue. Noises emerged, most of which meant nothing to me. But one word seemed clear. ‘Adref.’
I reached out a hand to touch the black head. The high-pitched squeak hurt my ears. Had I heard correctly? Mundo wanted to go home. Was that to the seas off Scotland, or to the equivalent country of Alba, in Daear?
Then someone grabbed my arm and I was pulled away from the orca. Mundo slipped back into the water as Paul thrust me away from the stage. ‘Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?’
‘He doesn’t belong here,’ I said, slapping his hand away. ‘How dare you keep him here!’
‘Don’t blame me,’ Paul retorted. ‘We trainers, we do our best for the whales. They have a good life in this park. And think of all the kids who see them. Those kids will make sure we protect our oceans, when they’re grown up, because they saw orcas like Mundo in person.’
The orca was once again circling the pool. I ran a hand over my eyes. Had I simply imagined it? I glanced at Raven. The dragon would know. I’d wait until I could speak to him. Then I returned my attention to Paul. ‘I’m sure that’s a great comfort to Mundo, or whatever his name really is.’
I stalked off without waiting for a reply. ‘Raven will fly me home,’ I told Jen and Ray as I drew near. ‘If Bishop Aeron can tell me anything about merpeople customs, I’ll phone Russell.’
‘I’d like to know what happens,’ Roger said. ‘If that doesn’t go against the official secrets act or something, Miss White? Mrs White?’
My right fingers rubbed the spot which, until only a few hours ago, an engagement ring had rested. ‘Reverend, if you must. I’d prefer to be called Penny. And I’ll let you know what I can.’
The door to the spectators’ area was still unlocked. I let myself out, and walked around the lower area to Raven’s side. The steps allowed me to climb onto his neck with less effort than usual, which suited me fine. It had been a long afternoon.
‘Where next, noble Penny?’ the dragon asked once I was in place between two triangular spines.
‘Could you take me to the family of that dead merwoman?’
‘I have no idea which shoal she belongs to.’ He lifted his head. ‘Even if I’d met her before, her face is too damaged for me to recognise her.’
‘Would Abella know? Or any of her shoal? We could ask them if one of their people has gone missing.’
‘Shoal members come and go all the time,’ Raven said patiently. ‘Most of them marry into other groups, so the couples split their time between shoals. If you asked Abella who wasn’t around, she’d probably list half of her people. Did she have special scars or marks?’
‘She has a cross tattoo on her left shoulder.’
‘As would any Christian merperson.’ Raven snorted. ‘It’s a very big ocean. There are many mer-shoals, and more than one God-fearer amongst them. You’d do better to ask through your Christian connections.’
‘That’s what I thought. I’ll send a rat.’ I found myself yawning. ‘Could you take me home?’
‘And the evening is still young. Dear Penny, you break my heart.’
The words came out before I could stop them. ‘It’s not your heart that’s been broken.’
The long neck bent as he turned his head. A large blue-green eye studied me. ‘Yes. There’s a particular aura around you when you’re trying not to cry. What’s happened?’
I gritted my teeth. ‘You’ll only gloat.’
‘Do I take it that my predictions have come true?’
‘Peter and I… Well, it’s over.�
�� I took a deep breath. ‘As of this afternoon.’
‘The break-up of a relationship is hard.’ The unexpected gentleness in his voice nearly broke my tight control. ‘So you once said to me.’
‘But you’re not going to say that you’re sorry to hear it.’
Raven snorted. ‘Of course not. You know my feelings on the matter. And my feelings towards you.’
I straightened. ‘Well, don’t expect me to run into your…’ I floundered for an appropriate ending to an unfortunate sentence.
‘Golden claws?’ He chuckled. ‘Do you know how old I am, my marvellous Penny? I have nearly seventy years to my life. Which means I’m still in my prime. And I’ve learned some patience along the way.’
‘Not that I’ve noticed,’ I muttered.
‘Some patience. Not endless patience.’ He turned away and shifted his weight to his hindquarters. ‘Although some things are worth waiting for.’
A neck spine pressed into my back as we rose nearly vertically into the air. I glanced down at the park, hoping that the people striding between shows wouldn’t think to look up. Raven might be invisible to them, but my bottom wouldn’t be. There were times when I wondered how much longer we could rely on the British public to simply dismiss strange sightings. Or would they, one day, demand to know the truth?
<><><><><><>
With these thoughts on my mind, I asked Raven to land in a tree-ringed area of the local park. ‘We need to be more careful,’ I explained as I slid to the ground. ‘My neighbours will be out more, now that the weather’s better. I don’t want to answer awkward questions on how I can just float in the sky.’
Raven flipped his wings onto his back. ‘Why not tell them about Lloegyr?’
‘Are you serious?’ I shuddered. ‘You know what happened when Wiseman Agricultural sent people to analyse fields owned by a unicorn herd. Never mind that the unicorns killed the agents. Fred Wiseman thought he could take over the land for human use. Morey and I had to convince his board that he was only imagining everything to head that off.’
